Apparatus for use in playing games of the roulette type



May 12, 1925. 1,537,236

J. J. JARVIS APPARATUS FOR USE IN PLAYING GAMES OF THE ROULETTE TYPEFiled Feb. 27, 1923 M T a 02 H INVEN on Patented May 12, 1925.

UNITED STA Es PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN JAMES JARVIS, 0F BARNES, ENGLAND.

ArrAaA'ros non use IN PLAYING GAMES or THE ROULETTE TYPE.

Be it known that Application filedFebruary 27, 1923.

concern: I, J orrn J AMES JARvIs,

a subject of the King of Great Britain and Ireland, residing at 24Ranelagh Barnes, in the county'of Surrey,

Gardens, England,

have invented new and usefuhImprovements in Apparatus for Use 111 Playng Games of the Roulette 'Type,

following .18 a speci This invention relatesto of which the fication.

machines or ap paratus of the character referred, to in thespecification to my for on the 15th, October, 1919, and intended for usein playing the roulette type; my present objects British patent, appliedNo. 139,434, games of being to simplify the construction of suchapparatus, and to rendersame applicable for use in playing a greatervariety of games.

Apparatus adapt ed for use in carrying my present invention into efiectis illustrated in whereof Fig. 1 is a plan view, a transverse section.

illustrate minor det larly referred to 'the accompanying drawings, andFig. 2,

Figs. 3,

4, 5 and 6, ails hereinafter particir A The apparatus maybe operatedmanually or by the connection. to any convenient.

source of mechanic ample, of a gramophone. Fig. 2 means of detachableplatform Y of a gramophone,

a1 power; such, for exas the clock-work or electric motor In the presentinstance, shows the apparatus supported by above the recordings X 7 andconnected to the spindle Z thereof. 7

The-table a of the game apparatus is subdivided, as' shewn in intovariously coloured segments, turn are subdivided by arcs struckw1thvarious radii; each sui tablynumbcred or which n such sub-division beingotherwise distinguished.

The table, thus. coloured and marked "off,

serves as the playin ed to trap and reta g board,

pockets 1) adaptin the the games are played; each such pocket beingmarked with a particular value for scoring purposes.

In a central orifice formed'in thetable a is freely this stem is fittedmounted a'tubula'r stem and on a loose sleeve 6 surthe stem isa pinionan'eccentrically mounted pinion g,

which latter may be Fig. 1, by radial lines The plate a!) is moreoverutilized nd is formed, at any suitable distance from its centre, with anumber of depressions or balls .with'which Serial no. 621,650.

sleeve d. Fast upon f which meshes with and conpinion h,

mounted by an upper centric with the latter is a third its stud, inwhich case, is interposed between the pinions g, h. third pinion; 9 alsopinion Ii, fast upon trally ball-receptacle 7c.

The meshes with a fourth the stem j which cen- The latter is formed witha lateral ball-escape orifice Z, so shaped as to permit, withoutjamming, the easy passage of a ball from an inclined floor m situatedwithin the cup-shaped ball-receptacle. The inclined floor m is attachedto the upper sleeve (Z and derives rotative motion from the tubular stemj, the latter being in connection with the motor-spindle Z, preferablyby means of a spring clip a, such as shown on an enlarged scale inFig.4. The inclined floor m is formed at one point'in its periphery witha depression m such as shewn inrFig. l, which serves as a ball-chute ontheorifice Z in the side of the receptacle 7c. Beneath theball-receptacle Z is arranged a circular plate 0 which serves to conveythe balls, as they issue from arriving opposite the orifice Z, to theouter portion of the table.

Above the gear tram is arranged a platea (shewn in plan in Fig. 5) thesides of traverses thefloor of a cup shaped freely mounted,-upo.u alight feather spring which are turned down to rest upon the table orplate a and are formed with ears a which passthrough slots in the platea and arethen turned laterally to engage with the under side thereof;being thereby securely "fastened together. to afford a bearing for theupper extremity of the stud on which the cccentrically disposed gearwheelsg, h are mounted. 7 From the foregoing it will beunderstood thatthe clip a, when engaged with the motor-spindle Z, drives the tubularstem. This stem drives the pinion 6,,and, through the eccentricallymounted pinions h and g, the sleeve 0, whence the ball-receptacle lderives rotative motion by frictional contact withfthe shoulder 6 uponwhich it'rests. The inclined floor m of the ball-receptacle is attachedto the upper sleeve 01; derives the two plates (1, a,

fit

rotative motionby reason of its resting upon the upper extremity of thesleeve 6, and consequently is also driven frictionally.

The legs X are capable of attachment to the edge of the table or plate aat different distances from the centre with a view to adapting theapparatus to gramophone tables of different diameters. As may be seen inFig. 2, the horizontally projecting arm X of the leg X is formed withtwo folded loops, in either of which the edge of the table or plate amay be engaged.

When working the apparatus from the spindle of an ordinary gramophone,it is desirable to effect a considerable increase in the speed ofrotation of the ball-receptacle 7c in relation to the said spindle. Thepair of spur wheels i [L are accordingly propoi tioned to'eli eet .oneincrease in speed, whilst the pair o tgear .wheels 9 f are soproportioned as to effect a further increase. The former pair consistvmoreover of eccentric and elliptical wheels, which have the furthereffect of varyinguthe speed at; diiierent porions of their rotation; itbeing desirable to produce irregularity, rather than regularity, in thespeed of rotation of the ball-receptacle 7a in addition, to theirregularities which occur owing to slip taking place in the drivingparts; the drive being merely dependent on friction of a very moderatecharacter.

It will moreover be understood that, owing to slip. at the springdisposed between the second and third pinions of the geartrain, whensuch spring is employed, or to slip between the under surface of theplate (a and the boss on which it rests, the relative rotative speeds ofthe ball-receptacle and of the inclined floor therein arrangedfrequently vary; with the eii'ect that the interrails of time betweenthe successive periods of coincidence between the discharge point 221 inthe revolving floor and the orifice Z in the ballreceptacle undergoconstant variation. The form of the orifice Z' which I have found bestadapted to prevent the balls jamming therein is shewn in Fig.

lVith a view to further increasing the irregularity with which the ballsare delivered from the ballreceptacle, means of the characterillustrated in plan view in Fig. 5 and in vertical section in Fig. 6 maybe employed. Beneath the ball-receptacle 7a and cover plate 0 and abovethe gear-train is arranged a loose plate 0, capable of rotating freelyabout the axis of the spindle Z. The edge of this plate is at one pointformed with a turned down finger 0 Fast upon the stud of theeccentrically mounted gear wheels 9 h is mounted a radial arm 3) soarranged that its outer extremity traverses the path of rotation of thefinger 0 The upper surface of the plate 0 is "formed with slight humps 0which contact with the underside of the cover plate 0 and cause theplate 0 to rotate therewith. The plate 0 and the gear-wheel g rotate,however, at difierent speeds, with the eifeet that the turneddown fingera sometimes comes into contact with the radial arm 72, whilst in thecourse of other revolutions the finger 0 passes clear of the arm 32.lVhen the two collide, the rotative movement of the plate 0 suffers amomentary check, which check is conveyed to the ball-receptacle is, butwithout necessarily arresting the rotative movement of the latter, itsmomentum causing it to slip in relation to the plate 0.

I claimz- 1. Apparatus for use in playing a game of the roulette type,c'on'iprising ai ball-receptacle formed with a lateral orifice, aslightly inclined floor arranged within the ball-receptacle and formedwith a chute at its lower edge, the receptacle and floor mounted forrotation about a common axis, driving gear positioned beneath thereceptacle and operatively connected to it and the floor whereby torotate both the ball-receptacle and the floor, the former at a differentspeed than the latter, and a surrounding play-tabl e, formed withpockets for the reception of the balls ejected from the rotatingball-receptacle.

2. An apparatus of the class described comprising a drive shaiit, asleeve mounted thereon, a ball supporting disc having a discharge chutecarried by the sleeve, a noncircular pinion carried by the shaft, a geartrain operat-ively connecting the pinion to the sleeve whereby to rotatethe sleeve at a variable speed, a ball receptacle, and means tofrictional'ly mount the 'sameon the sleeve whereby the receptacle iscaused to slip with respect to the disc during periods of accolorationand deceleration to discharge the balls therefrom.

3. An apparatus of the class described comprising a drive shaft, asleeve carried by the shaft, a disc having a discharge chute carried bythe sleeve,-a pinion carried by the shaft, a gear train operatively connecting the pinion with the'sleeve and including an eccentrical lymounted pinion whereby the sleeve is driven intermittently, a receptacle7 having a lateral opening formed therein, and means to frictionallymount the receptacle on the sleeve and surrounding the disc whereby thereceptacle is caused to slip with respect to the disc by the variationsin the speed of the latter to discharge balls supported thereon throughthe opening in said receptacle.

4. An apparatus of the class described comprising a drive shaft, anon-circular pinion carried thereby, a sleeve mounted on the shaft, adisc carried by the sleeve and provided with a discharge chute, a secondshaft, a pinion carried thereby and meshing with said non-circularpinion, a pinion charge chute of the disc, and means to fricrespect tothe intermittently tionally mount the receptacle on the sleeve wherebythe receptacle is caused to slip with disc during periods of celerationand deceleration to cause balls supported by the disc to 'be dischargedthrough the opening in the receptacle.

JOHN JAMES JARVIS.

